Thursday - The Best Day and Black Pudding.

I would say today was the best day of the week. The scenery was amazing and the light was perfect all day - there were showers but then we would get beautiful skies and rainbows. I was pressured this morning to eat black pudding however. Although not entirely bad, I cannot get over what is in it - nasty!

We spent the day in Glen Torridon and Loch Torridon - about a 20 mile drive around. Some amazing scenery with mountain names of Ben Eighe, Liathach and Ben Alligin. The end of the day was sepnt at upper Loch Torridon which was amazing - the light tracked all the way across the loch and mountains. Here are the images...even a picture of me in there.

Wednesday - A bit of rain

Hello all

This may be a short one tonight - full of stew and tired from a long day. Last night rained like crazy but it stopped this morning and we got some sun for a while. We drove down Glen Torridon to a town called Sheildaig which is on Loch Torridon. We then stopped at a small loch called Loch Danh (Danph).

We then drove up a super steep one lane mountain where it was raining so hard with wind that the small waterfalls were blowing back up the wrong way. At the top you could see the Isle of Skye off the coast which was covered in mist but very cool to see. At the bottom, we drove along the coast and got to see Skye again with beams of light hitting the water.

As we drove up the coast we saw this little cottage on the coast with a stromy sky and rainbow behind it - a perfect scene. It lasted about two minutes and was gone.

The rest of the day was spent driving down Glen Torridon - stunning mountains with no light on them of course today - clouds spoiled the day but it was still a great scene. Hopefully tomorrow..

Enjoy and that is all for tonight - thanks for keeping up every day!

Tuesday - The day of the jumping sheep...

I thought I have seen it all until I saw a sheep jump about 4 feet in the air. Pretty cool - I was not even chasing it...)

The day started out very cloudy and somewhat rainy but one thing cool about John (our guide) is that he always finds a good place to shoot even if the weather is bad. So we stopped at Loch Maree - the back side and all of the sudden the light popped out of the clouds and lit the lake up. So we stayed for about a half hour and shot the lake. See below.

We then moved along to Naast and stopped since John saw a couple of interesting spots (saw the Scotish version of the white house with the sign and all (including a steer skull on the door - excellent). Maybe George W lives there? One of my favorite shots of the day was a small stream in this area...

We then drove up the coast to the north to a white sands beach past a Nato shipping area. The interesting thing was an island we passed where they tested Anthrax in the 40s to 60s. It was just cleared to live on in the 90s. Pretty wild. This was a place called Ewe Bay. Here are a few shots from the area....

Probably the best light of the evening Gruinard Bay which was amazing. We climbed up a steep path overlooking the bay and the sun came through and lit up the mountains..

First real photo day

Today was the first real day of photogrpahy on the trip. Had a proper Scotish breakfast except for the blood pudding - seriously...The weather was crazy all day - typical Scotland weather - rain, sun, rain, sun all day. We started the day at Loch (lake) Bad Na Skalag - very bizzare name. The light lasted 5 minutes and was gone but it was very cool. See below>

We then went to Loch Maree which is a large loch near where we are staying. Again, some very gloomy storm lighting but it really set off the mountain nicely. Some will notice this is tilted a wee bit (wee bit - Scotish). My normal photoshop keeps crashing so I am using a new program I am not used to. It will be fixed later...

We then had lunch at Ben (mountain) Eighe (pronounced Eh) park and then drove down the associated Glen (valley). This is where the light got really good. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the glen at various spots. Stepped in a monster mud hole about up to my knee - great fun. The two brits and two scots on this trip are very entertaining - the English are very proper

Had fish and chips and ale for dinner and off to bed...

Day 2 - Drive up To Wester Ross

Cheers all

Today was kind of a long day of driving to pick up some others and head over to Wester Ross. A very pretty drive however. We passed by Loch Lomand and Lepcorpt Church (pictured). We also passed by the Willaim Wallace Memorial which was kind of cool to see if you saw the movie.

We also passed by this pretty cool hotel called Pic Lochry Hotel. We then had lunch at the Falls of Bruar. There was a pretty large restaurant and series of shops to see. - a lot of wool :). The waterfall is behind the restaurant. We spent about a half hour shooting the falls and then hopped back in the car.

We then spent the rest of the drive in the rain past Inverness and over to Wester Ross. Hopefully tomorrow it will not rain! I am the only bloke (as they say) from the US. Two Scots and two from England so that is also interesting. Man they talk funny...very nice however. Had a lot of questions about the upcoming election.

1st Day Here - Aberfolye Scotland

Hello Everyone,

Finally made it to the town of Aberfoyle which is about an hour north of Glasgow. The flights were fine, long with no sleep (except for on the benches at my gate in Amsterdam - fun..). It was a nice day here today - sunny and in the 50s. This is a cool little town with mountains all around and a nice downtown area. One fun thing to do is visit the falconer who has some very cool birds of prey. Last year I got to hold a red tail hawk and this year I picked the eagle owl (a huge owl with red eyes). His name was Henry which I thought was pretty funny. I then hiked up to an overlook to watch the sunset. I am running on vapors and need to eat and go to sleep!

I was hoping to add some pictures in this evening but forgot the memory cards up the hill and dont feel like getting them so tomorrow I will add in some images . Tomorrow is a long drive up to Wester Ross where we will be based for the rest of the week. I am crossing my fingers for good weather.

Note - added in some images from yesterday...

Have a good evening all and a big thanks to Amy who is manning my art show booth for two days at Crane Fest - fun fun...